


better look back carefully

by growlery writes (growlery)



Series: the scene is dead (long live the scene) [3]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Slam Poetry, WIP Amnesty, very vague reference to addiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 07:47:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19313770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/growlery/pseuds/growlery%20writes
Summary: Lincoln only does the show because Raven asks him to.





	better look back carefully

Lincoln only does the show because Raven asks him to.

"I know you haven't been writing," she says, before he can, "but it's a two minute slot, and we'll easily double our numbers if we've got your name on the bill." She smiles winningly at him. "I'll give you my fee for the show."

"No," Lincoln says, to the last part. 

"I'll buy you a ginger beer, then," Raven says, “ _please_ , Lincoln."

And that's how he ends up on a stage for his own poetry for the first time in over a year, and, relatedly, how he meets Octavia Blake.

He does _Monster_ , and his voice cracks on the line it always does. He's long past it being cathartic, but it goes down well, and that's what matters. It's- it's weird, being in front of a room full of strangers, in a way it hasn't been since he first started, but it's not an entirely bad kind of weird, and Raven hi-fives him when he gets offstage. He might have missed this, maybe. 

He's hanging back from the bar, watching Raven get them drinks, when someone stops in front of him. 

"Oh my god," the girl says, "Lincoln, right? You were _amazing_.”

“Thanks,” Lincoln says, smiling. She looks vaguely familiar, in that vague way that everyone does when you've been around a while, but Lincoln's pretty sure they've never actually met. “What's your name, sorry?"

“Octavia. Raven invited me,” she explains, and, oh, okay, that's probably why Lincoln recognises her. 

"Do you write poetry?" he asks, and Octavia makes a face.

"Only if scribbling emo shit in notebooks when I should be taking notes in class counts."

"Of course it counts," Lincoln says, and Octavia bites her lip around a grin. Lincoln wants to press his thumb to the corner of it, stroke fingers across her cheek. He clears his throat. “There's an open mic night in here every other Tuesday, if you were ever thinking about performing.”

“Oh, I know,” Octavia says. “You run it, right?”

Lincoln smiles. “It might be my pride and glory,” he says, “but don't tell Raven I said that.”

“Raven doesn't need telling,” Raven says, handing over his drink. Lincoln doesn't start, but it's unsettling, that he didn't see her approach. “Hey, O, enjoy the show?”

“So much,” Octavia tells her, still looking kind of giddy. Lincoln can't help but smile, and Raven gives him this little sidelong look that makes him hide his face behind his can as the two of them talk about the show.


End file.
